Bulldogs snap Lady Griz home win streak
12/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Gonzaga got a game-high 22 points from Courtney Vandersloot as the Bulldogs ended Montana???s 21-game home-court win streak with a 69-63 victory at Dahlberg Arena Friday afternoon in Missoula, Mont. The win also snapped the Lady Griz??? 25-game home-court winning streak against non-conference opponents.
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Gonzaga improved to 10-3 with the victory. Montana fell to 8-3.
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The Bulldogs jumped out to a 36-30 halftime lead, and the Lady Griz were never able to come all the way back in the second half.
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Vandersloot added eight assists and five rebounds and led three GU players in double figures.
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Heather Bowman, who was named to the Naismith Award watch list earlier in the day, had 13 points and six rebounds, while Kayla Standish came off the bench to score 11 points and grab six boards.
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Montana had four starters in double figures. Three of them also grabbed double-figure rebounds.
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Sophomore Sarah Ena scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, both career highs. Senior Mandy Morales had 13 points, 10 boards and six assists, while senior Britney Lohman had 10 points and a career-best 13 rebounds.
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Senior Sonya Rogers scored 13 points. Her 3-point basket that opened the second-half scoring gave her 1,002 career points and made her the 26th player in Lady Griz history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.
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Montana got five points from its bench, giving the Lady Griz just 12 bench points in their last two games.
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Montana got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 17-9 lead in the opening seven minutes, with Ena scoring eight early points.
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Gonzaga got 3-pointers from three different players to retake the lead 18-17, and the Lady Griz would never lead again.
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Bowman hit a jumper at the first half buzzer to make it 36-30 at the break.
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Morales converted a three-point play inside at the 10:51 mark of the second half to cut the GU lead to one, 52-51, and the score would remain 52-51 for nearly the next four minutes.
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Gonzaga???s Jami Schaefer hit a jumper in the paint at the 6:59 mark to break the two-team scoring drought.
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Montana was still within two, 57-55, with just over four minutes to play, but Bowman scored six straight points to make it 63-55 with less than three minutes to play.
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The Lady Griz would get no closer than five the rest of the way.
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Montana out-shot Gonzaga, 41.0 to 36.4 percent, and had a 46-41 rebounding advantage, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over eight fewer times and the Lady Griz hurt themselves with an 8-for-16 performance from the free throw line.
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Montana hosts MSU Northern at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dahlberg Arena in the Lady Griz??? final game before their short Christmas break.
